One UFC veteran thinks Jake Paul had the opportunity to reach the final bell.
The polarizing YouTuber-turned-boxer had a brutal return to the ring last Friday, when he squared off against former two-time unified world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
That matchup came about on short notice after the cancellation of Paul’s planned exhibition contest against Gervonta Davis. The fight shocked many when it was announced, and as expected, it proved to be a hurdle much too tall for ‘El Gallo’.
Joshua knocked Paul out in round six, dropping him with a brutal right hand that broke the American’s jaw in two places.
Many saw that outcome as inevitable, but a former MMA fighter thinks Paul’s approach in the fight meant surviving the distance was not out of the question for the 28-year-old.
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Was it worth it?
Jake Paul suffered a double broken jaw during his KO loss against Anthony Joshua.
UFC veteran Matt Brown says Jake Paul could have avoided Anthony Joshua KO with better cardio
Paul received criticism for how he fought Joshua, as the ex-Disney star employed an evasive strategy that saw him accused of ‘running away’ for the entire fight.
Among those who won’t be giving Paul any respect for sharing the ring with ‘AJ’ is ex-UFC fighter Matt Brown. Speaking during The Fighter vs. The Writer on MMA Fighting, ‘The Immortal’ echoed the sentiment of many with his assessment of the December 19 fight.
Brown went a step further by suggesting that Paul was not even fully prepared for his strategy on the night and could have avoided the fate that befell him if he’d improved his cardio in the gym beforehand.
“He ran until he could run anymore,” Brown said. “And then what happened is exactly what we expected to happen.
“The fact is he should have been able to run for all eight rounds … What I respect is someone who puts in the work, puts in the grind, goes through the hours of training in the gym and then goes in and puts on a respectable fight.
“What Jake did here was he clearly didn’t put the hours in the gym,” he continued. “I think we see his skills getting better, but he’s gassed in so many fights now so he’s not doing that dirty, grimy work. He’s not doing the road work at 5 a.m., and he’s not doing the extra reps at the end of practice. I don’t believe all that.
“From the indications I saw in the fight, Jake could have ran for eight rounds and probably survived the whole thing. He didn’t even put in the work to be able to do that. He got gassed from just freaking running.”
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33 million watched Anthony Joshua break Jake Paul’s jaw
While it was a difficult night at the office for Paul, the same cannot be said for his sizable group of haters.
The YouTuber-turned-boxer is not short on detractors who have been rooting for his failure in the ring and long hoping to see him finally finished. They got their wish on December 19 and were among a huge audience tuning in for Joshua vs. Paul.
In a press release post-fight, Netflix and Most Valuable Promotions revealed that the main event in Miami scored an estimated average minute audience (AMA) of 33 million Live+1 viewers globally from opening to closing bell.
The controversial heavyweight showdown also got into Netflix’s Top 10 in 91 countries and ranked top in 45, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia, Mexico, and Argentina.
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